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Please stop the coding challenges

(blackentropy.bearblog.dev)
261 points CrazyEmi | 1 comments | 15 Nov 24 15:32 UTC | HN request time: 0.552s | source
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fishtoaster ◴[15 Nov 24 18:07 UTC] No.42149357[source]▶
I recently ran an interview process for a relatively senior eng role at a tiny startup. Because I believe different interview methods work better for different people, I offered everyone a choice:

1. Do a takehome test, targeted to take about 4 hours but with no actual time limit. This was a non-algorithmic project that was just a stripped-down version of what I'd spent the last month on in actual work.

2. Do an onsite pairing exercise in 2 hours. This would be a version of #1, but more of "see how far we get in 2 hours."

3. Submit a code sample of pre-existing work.

Based on the ire I've seen takehome tests get, I figured we'd get a good spread between all three, but amazingly, ~90-95% of candidates chose the takehome test. That matches my preference as a candidate as well.

I don't know if this generalizes beyond this company/role, but it was an interesting datapoint - I was very surprised to find that most people preferred it!

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bhhaskin ◴[15 Nov 24 18:17 UTC] No.42149441[source]▶
Why would you even do any of that for a senior role? I wouldn't waste my time with it, and it shows you don't know how to interview/evaluate for a senior position.
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1. 12_throw_away ◴[15 Nov 24 20:17 UTC] No.42150471[source]▶
> Why would you even do any of that for a senior role?

I used to think like that ... then we hired a batch of 3 "senior" devs who could not do simple, everyday coding tasks, even in their ostensible languages of preference. All had come with exceptional resumés and personal recommendations.

So now, no one at any level one gets hired without demonstrating that they can at least write a fizzbuzz and commit it to a repository.

Now, I doubt that senior engineers in other fields have to do this sort of thing. But, most other engineering fields have licensing/accreditation with accompanying post-graduate academic curricula. We don't (but probably should).